Wedding Bells

I haven't posted about this yet, as I didn't want to jinx anything (we've already had to postpone twice due to lack of funds...), but on the 3rd of July I will be happily going from a Miss to a Missus! Yes folks, in just five weeks and three days, we will be spending the morning at Portsmouth Registry Office, and the afternoon at a lovely country pub having a very relaxed afternoon tea.

The whole affair is being done very much on a (quite tiny) budget, but I've learned along the way that low cost doesn't necessarily mean low class - we've gone for a mismatched, vintage style, hippy-ish type wedding, with a wedding dress from eBay, a blue cord suit from Paul Smith, silk flowers and a vintage beetle as the wedding car. Instead of a veil, I'm having a wreath of flowers and two vintage style pearl hair clips which were a gift from my Mum, and instead of a sit down dinner (no table plan, yippeeee!) we're having an afternoon tea style buffet with finger sandwiches, scones, china and cake stands. I'm utterly determined that the whole day is going to be relaxed, fun and a pleasure, instead of one of those weddings you see on the television where the bride needs a valium before she has even finished the invitations.

I was looking through all the goodies I've gathered so far, from eBay and little local shops, and decided to take a few pictures just to show you the progress. I really, really love everything I've managed to find - I'd love to hear what you all think!

The invitations were little notelets with teacups and saucers printed on them, with the wording printed from the computer slipped inside - I decided not to glue them down so people could reuse them as they pleased, very eco-friendly!
There will be bunting and floral garlands decorating the interior of the reception venue, and the centre-pieces will be made from the tea lanterns, jam jars filled with silk flowers and tea lights. I also snapped up some napkins from Paperchase, which have the word 'love' printed on them in a vintage style typeface, and some Cath Kidston lovelies are on their way.

The bridesmaids dresses were from Debenhams, and were on sale for £28 - I almost couldn't believe it, they were the right colour, the right length and even had a beautiful crochet panel around the neckline. All the flowers, from those to go on the tables to my bouquet, are from the Boarhunt Silk Flower Mill, which specialises in the most realistic looking silk flowers I have ever, ever seen. So much better for the environment, and cost effective as well - what more can you ask for? My dress (not shown, for obvious reasons!) was £200 from eBay, from a lovely girl who had never worn it (she found a better one and ended up with two dresses!), and is just perfect - to accompany it are a gorgeous pair of delicate lace pumps from New Look, no less, which cost a grand total of..... £6. They were £12 originally, but due to a mark on them (which I can't even really see), I got them for half price! I'm so, so pleased with everything we've managed to get so far - I only hope we manage to get the same kind of fabulous deals for our honeymoon, wherever that may be!